Published at 6th of July 2026 6:55 am

Chapter 4286: Forging Friendships

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When Sternon found himself face to face with the Emperor of Water, memories of the past emerged in his mind. Real memories from the time that the Emperor had visited a secret training camp in the territory of the Evolutionary Army in East Moridia. And of course, inherited memories from the deceased Supreme Commander.

One set of memories was actually quite positive and had planted the seed that would eventually get him to leave the Evolutionary Army. The other memories were rather jarringly negative. It created a blend of positive and negative that were hard to square off.

"You’ve grown up."

Rui’s voice drew his attention as he patted the young man on his shoulder, smiling at him knowingly. "You’ve grown well."

Sternon’s expression softened as he nodded with a hint of gratitude. "Thanks to you, Your Majesty."

"You give me too much credit, young man. This is your accomplishment. Be proud of it," Rui turned towards Ria. "You’ve made some good friends, Ria."

He turned towards Misha and Siliscia. "And who do we have here?"

"Misha Ehrmant, Your Majesty," she replied courteously. "It is an honor to meet the leader of our civilization and the sole Martial Transcendent of humanity."

"Siliscia Norwana," Siliscia quickly answered with a nervous tone of voice. "I, too, am honored beyond compare."

"You don’t need to do all of that." Rui chuckled. "As I said, a friend of my daughter is a friend of the family. Come along; why don’t we have you settled in the royal palace as a guest of ours? I’m sure six days of travel from Gaia 792 to Gaia Prime couldn’t have been relaxing."

He waved his hand as several maids and butlers arrived from the passages in the throne room, standing behind the Emperor. "They will guide you to your rooms and quarters where you may rest and freshen up."

He turned towards his daughter knowingly. "Ria will join you shortly."

The other four simply nodded, accepting the arrangements, before bidding Ria a brief goodbye.

CLACK

The door closed behind them as Ria and Rui found themselves alone in the massive, extravagant throne room.

"You’ve made some good friends." Rui smiled at her. "That’s good. Good friends are precious. Nobody can be truly alone forever. Especially in this era."

Her expression softened, nodding as a small smile emerged on her face. "I can trust them to have my back."

"As a Martial Artist, that is all the more precious. The fact that you have told them about your true identity is bound to make you even closer," Rui remarked as his expression grew nostalgic. "However, there is another trait that people like us require from our friends, unfortunately."

Ria raised an eyebrow. "People like us?"

"Yes, people like us. People who diverge from what was thought to be possible," Rui remarked, pacing about her with a nostalgic yet melancholic expression. "I had my own gaggle of friends growing up. But unfortunately... we grew more distant as time passed. The simple reason being..."

He shrugged lightly.

"They could not keep up with me."

Ria’s amber eyes grew a little gloomy at those words. She had certainly considered that. The reality was that even Runark was barely able to keep up with her, but only if she held back and chose missions that weren’t of her caliber, or at least what she was capable of when she pushed herself to the limit.

She hadn’t ever told him because she did not want him to feel bad. He had already pushed himself tremendously to stay in the same Realm as her. She didn’t strictly mind it either; she was not a maniacal battle junky, even if she did enjoy the euphoria of exercising her Martial Path in battle.

She would rather be with her friends and take more boring missions than be alone, trying to push herself to the limit.

In that regard, she was much different from her father.

"I watched a movie about your early life," Ria remarked with an intrigued expression. "I... don’t want to be like you. I can’t imagine how exhausting and stressful living how you have must be. Assuming that movie was accurate, anyway."

Rui simply smiled wryly. "The director pestered my office for years to interview me to get accurate details of my life for it. I was bored, so I humored him. I haven’t seen it yet, though."

"You still managed to have friends despite everything, didn’t you?" Ria raised an eyebrow. "You have Uncle Kane, Aunt Fae."

"Indeed, but trust me, having friends who can keep with you in your early years is a blessing," Rui remarked. "In my era. Talent and drive were the largest factors of growth. I always had the most of both, so much so that even Kane, who is an unparalleled growth story himself, struggled to keep up. In your case..."

He directed a knowing look at her. "Your drive is not bad. But it is not as intense as it could be."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Like I said. I don’t want to live a life like yours. Grinding away at my Martial Art like it’s the only thing that matters."

"Wise decision," Rui replied, unperturbed by his daughter’s rejection of his way of life. "Family and friends matter. Especially when you are older. But..."

He inhaled deeply, heaving a deep breath.

"I’m not sure if you’ll have the luxury to live such a well-balanced life, my precious daughter."

The air grew a little heavy at those words. Ria grew a little anxious at those words, as he had just made an ominous prophecy.

"This has to do with why I’m here, doesn’t it?" She knitted her eyebrows. "I came here to get answers. Why were the homoararchnoids so obsessed with me? Why did that Divine Mother or whatever try so hard to get her hands on me?"

She glanced at her hands. "Why do I feel these tingling sensations... from countless infected worlds in the galaxy?"

Rui simply gazed at his daughter with a serious expression, heaving a deep breath. "The answers to your questions are not simple, but I will do my best to answer them. For that, I will begin at the beginning."

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